蘑菇AV

What do brands need to know about the next wave of digital growth?

It has more overall users than Facebook, Netflix, or Spotify and a greater amount of total raw engagement (in terms of time spent). But its identity as a leading social media platform, premium video provider, or audio streamer isn鈥檛 always entirely obvious. So advertisers on the platform may be confused as to how they should build it into their plans.

This generational difference is consistent with data on video consumption in general: according to our forecast, free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) will only make up 4.9% of all video time in 2025, while YouTube will account for 10.6% and social video for 13.6%. Our take: The move away from pay TV has become the norm rather than a fad.

The trend: The move comes as WBD struggles with overall business declines, primarily due to dwindling studio and linear revenues as time spent with TV continues its downward trend.

The shift in spending aligns with viewing habits: Time spent with CTV is increasing, and nearly three-quarters of the US population will be CTV users by 2029, per our forecast. And for the first time this year, time spent with CTV is projected to outpace time spent with traditional TV鈥攊ndicating that CTV provides an increasingly lucrative opportunity for advertisers to reach target audiences.

This is the Q1 2025 installment of our quarterly 鈥淎d Spending Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss the battle between linear TV and CTV, one mobile device metric that is going down, and a surprising finding about which age group uses YouTube the most. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Principal Forecasting Writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, and Senior Director of Forecasting Oscar Orozco. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Brazil and Mexico consistently rank among the top 10 countries worldwide for time spent on social platforms, averaging more than three hours per day, according to GWI. This high engagement makes social advertising indispensable for brands to reach consumers at scale and stay culturally relevant.

Time spent on TikTok has decreased among 12- to 17-year-olds for the second straight year (down 10 minutes in total). Time spent on Snapchat has decreased for the third straight year (down 3 minutes in total). Click here to view our full forecast for US time spent with TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Latin America鈥檚 digital revolution is marching full steam ahead, with consumers spending more than a third of their day online. As social commerce and retail media propel the region鈥檚 digital economy to new heights, the runway for growth remains long.鈥�

China ranked last globally in time spent with desktops/laptops/tablets. At an average of just 2 hours and 3 minutes (2:03) daily, it trailed the global average by 47 minutes and was down by 2 minutes YoY. Time spent with mobile devices in China ranked No. 24 out of the 49 countries included in the GMI, at 3:28 daily.

The news: US adults are increasingly dependent on digital platforms for news, with social media and video overtaking traditional news outlets for the first time. 54% of US adults get their news from social media, per the Reuters Institute鈥檚 2025 Digital News Report, compared with 50% from TV news and 48% from news websites and apps. Our take: Linear platforms could offer personalized news digests and mobile- and social- friendly content to reengage younger users, while advertisers should diversify their campaigns across social media platforms to follow fragmented user engagement.

The news:** Amazon has quietly doubled the ad load on Prime Video, now serving 4 to 6 minutes of ads per hour鈥攗p from 2 to 3.5鈥攑lacing it alongside Hulu and Paramount+ in volume. This aligns with Amazon鈥檚 effort to scale its connected TV inventory and offers buyers greater reach. Our take: The added ad time could shift Prime Video鈥檚 role in media planning, attracting performance-focused advertisers if CPMs soften, or reinforcing a premium stance if PMP rates hold. Weekly user engagement remains high, making the platform a reliable environment for consistent exposure. Amazon is quietly positioning Prime Video as a leading CTV ad player.